Plans for a proposed parking fee scheme in Westbrook, Westgate and Minnis Bay have been ditched.

The Thanet council scheme intended to introduce pay and display bays for on-street parking in:

The Parade, Minnis Bay Birchington

Cuthbert Road, St Mildred’s Road, Station Road, Westgate-on Sea

Canterbury Road, Westbrook

A consultation which ran in May 2018, resulted in over 5,300 responses from local residents and businesses related to the proposed changes.

This prompted a decision to delay while issues around congestion, lack of turn-over of spaces and pedestrian safety were again analysed.

The proposals resurfaced last September but, in light of the objections received, and review by the Joint Transportation Board, the decision has been made not to proceed with pay and display schemes in these locations at this time.

Currently Minnis Bay and Canterbury Road have free parking. In Westgate-on-Sea there are time limited bays which allow motorists to park free of charge for up to one hour.

A resident parking scheme with shared time limited bays in Royal Crescent, Westbrook will continue to be taken forward.

Cllr Steve Albon, Cabinet Member for Operational Services, said: “We have listened to the concerns raised by local people and responded. We recognise the importance of balancing the needs of businesses and their customers with the aim of reducing congestion and therefore emissions, as well as the safety of pedestrians and other road users. We hope that this decision is well received.”

Yes a bit of enforcement would be good, I can think of a few traders that park outside there businesses in Westgate all day and only move when one of them spots the warden, that they don’t seem to grasp or care about the negative effect it has on the businesses that need the constant footfall is beyond me. The major issues with idiot and dangerous parking by Tesco express in Westbrook is the worst it’s ever been, enforcement is the only thing that stops the stupid and selfish and at the rate it happens it would contribute massively to the deficit.

There could be revenue being lost when parking enforcement is not being carried out and persistent offenders are just getting away with parking anywhere they like, including pavements, bus stops, street corners and promenades for years. Try focusing a bit on this instead of just emptying the meters.

Ha Ha, The roads/ pavements are full in Thanet , one cannot park outside their home anymore not even in the same street/road .
It is an offence anywhere to park on a pavement , but also the same to block a road for emergency services like fire engine , ambulance so where does that leave a car/ van owner?,
To put parking bays/ meters into any place near a shop / business would deprive the small shops of customers who pay huge sums in council tax who are trying to make a living.
Free parking at all the big super stores .
I went to Margate last year as i was working to buy a couple of rolls to eat but two quid to park , i not bother.

It is not (other than in London and one or two more enlightened boroughs) an offence to park on the pavement. It should be. Pavements should be a safe refuge for pedestrians, not over spill carpark.
There is no such thing as “free” parking. At WWX, all the “free” carparking spacea are paid for by someone. And it’s not the investors who back the company that own WWX that pay. It’s anyone who shops at Tesco, or Sainsbury or any other of the stores there. Every tin of beans, loaf of bread etc costs more than it should, in order to pay for the carpark.
The iniqis that we all pay, even if we visit WWX by bus or bicycle.

Sorry Andrew your right as regards to offence in that term.
I went to Ramsgate town to the bottle bank last year and i parked half on the pavement , up pulls pc plod telling me to move my car onto the road as i was causing an obstruction , guess he was having a bad day lol.

It is an offence to *obstruct* the foot path by parking on it.
If the gap left between your car and the wall or fence was not wide enough for (say) a wheel chair to pass through, then you would have been guilty of obstructing the footpath.
In London, you can’t even put a couple of wheels up on the kerb, because it’s illegal to park on the pavement.
Curiously, it *is* illegal, even in Thanet, to *drive* on the pavement.

It is partly the free parking at the large supermarkets in Westwood Cross which has caused local high streets to lose business. Of course, this is not really “free” parking- its cost is covered by additions to the price of whatever the shop sells. You don’t have to be a car driver to pay this surcharge: cyclists, bus users and walkers pay it too.

Parking on the pavement is illegal for good reason, the clue is in the name “footpath” Permits should have to be purchased for caravan / boats / trailers / fast food vans / car transporters. That park up for months on end using up parking spaces, most don’t even pay road tax. Yet if you book a skip for a few days you have to pay for a permit to be on the road. .